We are creating a colony of atherosclerotic swine with accelerated lesions in the carotid and ilio-femoral arteries. Our intent is to vaporize these atherosclerotic plaques by using laser energy delivered through a fiberoptic delivery system. The animal models are in preparation. Collaboration with scientists at NASA and Olympus Optical Company has been established to develop a new prototype laser angioscope to deliver highly controlled laser energy to atherosclerotic lesions.